I wake up this morning and I check my social media one by one, almost checking them off a list. First, it's Facebook. Look, someone got engaged or it's their birthday. That's nice, I'll wish them a congratulatory message that is usually pretty standard. Then, I go to Snapchat. I check out some of the live stories and see what people are doing around the world. Maybe I go to Tumblr for a bit, look at some cool pictures, read a couple of funny stories or even singular lines. Finally, I turn to twitter. Some of the people that I follow are people I know so they just spew out, in 140 characters or less, what happened in their lives in a singular moment. However, the majority of the people I follow are celebrities, and not just celebrities who try to advertise their latest movie or show or book, but celebrities who use their influence to show what kind of sick world we are living in.
I go on Twitter and I find that not one black man has been shot to death by police, but now two, within a span of 48 hours. Say their names: Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. These are just two men who were going about their normal daily activities. They were both confronted by police officers. The one even complied and did all that he could to make sure that he would not be shot. They were both shot to death. They both had their deaths recorded on camera. They both were fathers, they both had loved ones, they both were human beings.
I don't know if I have much right to say anything. I am a white person—I don't know the struggles or the thoughts of the black community. I can't pretend that I do. I have never feared for my life when a police officer came up to me because the color of my skin might invoke a negative reaction. I have always lived in a primarily white community, generally a nicer neighborhood, so who am I to say that I know the anger that these people are going through?
I try to listen to what other people are saying about these horrific incidents. I follow Matt McGorry, who most people know as Correctional Officer Bennett from "Orange is the New Black" or Asher from "How to Get Away with Murder." But he uses his stardom to try and voice his opinion and share the opinion of others. Through every incident that has been reported, his voice is something that I have looked forward to reading to see what links he has provided so maybe I can further educate myself on the matter.
Prayers can't fix this problem. Prayers make us white people feel less bad about what is going on in our world. We need the law to change. We need it to fix our country. We need to start treating these people like people—like our brothers and sisters. We need to support our brothers and sisters in their grief and realize that we need to help change it so we don't have over 500 deaths caused by the police in the first six months of a year.
We need to keep saying their names: Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and so many more. Do not forget that these people have died a wrongful death. They have died at the hands of the people who are supposed to protect us.
Black Lives Matter. They will always matter and we can't say that "All Lives Matter" until our black and brown brothers and sisters can say that their lives truly matter.
